27/11/2009

Loyalist Killer's Sentencing Adjourned

One of the North's most prominent loyalists, Torrens Knight, had his sentencing for a brutal assault on two sisters adjourned today.

Knight, a convicted UFF killer, was found guilty of attacking the women in a Coleraine bar last month.

The Greysteel gunman was returned to prison and had his early release licence suspended following the court ruling.

He was due to appear before Coleraine Magistrates Court this morning to be told what sanctions he will face for the assaults.

However, the sentencing has now been put back to next Wednesday at Antrim court.

Knight was part of an armed loyalist gang that burst into the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel, Co Londonderry on Halloween in 1993 and opened fire.

Eight people were murdered and a further 13 injured in the massacre.

Knight was also convicted of the murders of four Catholic builders in the nearby town of Castlerock earlier that year.

He served seven years before being released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in 2000.

Commissioners sitting on the Life Sentence Review body will now examine the case to decide whether the suspension of the licence was justified.

They will decide whether Knight should now serve the rest of his murder sentences.

(PR/KMcA)

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